Warm
by Marionette Ame
Summary: It was just an ordinary day in winter. So very cold. So very warm. (UroRai, Post-Canon)


The sky was in shades of pink and orange and yellow. Warm hues. Like the one his eldest sister had preferred. It was a sign of righteousness, she had said. Warmth automatically signified love. Care. Compassion. It was why she had liked using them in scenes of death, since one was more inclined to believe that the murderer was justified because of how the painting felt.

They almost always hadn't been.

She had used them when depicting love too, and that's why he liked them as well. The scenes she had painted were like the one he was in now: on a lonely bench amidst nature, dressed in clothes casual without garnering judgement, a carefree soul, and someone sitting with him, holding his hand. Scenes like this weren't common for him. Not after his family had passed. Only Zarga remained when his cousin entered eternal sleep a century past.

It had been lonely, always cold compared to the biting chill in the air now from winter. This would be gone soon after spring's herald, and didn't carry a burden with it. Didn't weigh him down and make him suffocate. Nor did it force him to wander around empty and lost, attempting to search for what he was missing. No. This cold only made him feel as he was going to get sick and made him glad for his coat. He had summoned gloves and a scarf too when he'd realised it was worse than he'd imagined, even if he'd taken off the gloves so that he could feel his lover's skin on his.

Lover.

He glanced to Raizel as he thought that. What a strange word. Once he couldn't even utter his name without a title attached to the front of it, and now he did so with ease.

Recalling the past was never easy. How could it be? It held the murders of his father and sisters, the pain of trying to befriend the noblesse, his betrayal. The accursed way he had reacted to his heightening isolation. It seemed none but Zarga had cared for him so he had joined the plot to kill Raizel. And once they all believed he was dead? Urokai had found himself deeper in pain. Then he had lost but another part of his happiness. Had buried himself in methods of self-destruction since then and when he had learnt of his return? He had only tried to kill him again. Yet, Raizel had not returned the favour. He had spared him, spared Zarga, spared the other traitors.

Of course they hadn't escaped without punishment but that had been many centuries ago. During that time they had learnt and atoned and he had fallen for Raizel all over again. He liked things better now, with his lover leaning against him and fiddling with his hair. Urokai could feel his gaze watching him instead of the sunset and it was warm.

As they sky grew darker, and silver stars shone bright with the moon playing hide and seek among the clouds, Urokai finally looked at Raizel. He was just as wonderful as always, cat earrings gleaming. The piercings were new. From just last week and he'd gone with him to help pick out some nice ones to wear.

The current ones had been his choice, and it was obvious. There was nobody who wasn't aware of his adoration for cats. He loved them to a point of obsession, and would often bring one of his numerous ones along so that Raizel could cuddle with them. His lover always enjoyed it, and there was nothing more dear than seeing him smile when he was with him. In the past he had used to blush too, but didn't anymore. The fact that he was used to such affection only made Urokai overjoyed.

Leaning in to kiss his cheek, Urokai interlaced his fingers with Raizel's- "I have to get home. I told my cats I'd be back before midnight."

Zarga he could text, and his daughter wouldn't worry either. Hypathia knew him well enough, and was only visiting since her flight to visit his eldest had been cancelled. His cats though? He didn't want to disappoint them.

"I'll walk you to the train station," Raizel murmured, lifting their hands to kiss his knuckles.

Urokai smiled. The walk itself was a short one, though lovely when he was with Raizel. Perhaps they could have just gone all the way back to his home together, but he was fonder of this human lifestyle and had grown accustomed to it so Raizel humoured his choice.

Keeping his free hand in his pocket, Urokai summoned a glove back on it. The cold truly was too much, and he would grow sick if he let it seep into his bones. At least he could enjoy the atmosphere. There was something truly comforting about being in silence with his beloved. About not needing to speak to know what the other needed. Even if this scene was drawn in icy hues, his mind insisted that it was warm and that was enough.

Almost too soon the walk was over. Not quite though, because he didn't mind being apart from Raizel. It meant that he knew how it felt to miss him, and his adoration for him only grew stronger for it. That didn't mean he liked how his hand was bombarded with freezing wind and left cold when Raizel let go of him.

It didn't matter much because then he kissed him. Soft, lingering, and quick. Long enough that he knew how it felt, yet too brief. So this time he took one, longer, before parting.

"Friday?" Raizel asked, hopeful.

He smiled, indulging- "Friday."

Then he entered the station where the season couldn't make him ill, his other hand going into a pocket too where he summoned a glove over it. Though his body still felt cold, a result of his Agvain body being unable to deal with such temperatures, he could deal with this much. And anyway, as he sat in the empty train carriage, leaning back and relaxing as it sped up, his lips were warm.


End file.
